


The art of the cheesesteak

by BlueHareGame



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-11-12
Updated: 2014-11-05
Packaged: 2017-10-25 23:51:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/276221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueHareGame/pseuds/BlueHareGame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny is back in Jersey, fighting hard to get his life back to what it was. But is it the fairytale he imagined?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. preview

The rain trickled down his windscreen as Danny stared out, looking for the tell tale white-blonde crop of his new partner. His phone started ringing and the detective sullenly ignored it, knowing it was Rachel continuing her part of the latest argument. He shifted in his seat and watched as a bus tore around the corner, soaking an umbrella wielding businessman.

He should have known, why did he expect things to be different the second time around??

The phone stopped and the dull murmur of the rain was the only sound in the car as Danny stared down at his hands. Truth was he knew why he was here, back in Jersey, back in the pouring rain.

It was that feeling.

The feeling that had started when Matthew boarded that plane, the feeling that he wanted no _needed_ to go back. Back before Hawaii, before the divorce, back when he had a family and a steady job.

He licked his lips, just where was Richards with his cheesesteak. Ah, the cheesesteak from Michael’s had been one of few things that were as idyllic as he remembered. A flash of thunder above and Danny’s eyes shot up to the sky, slowly lowering and lingering on his visor. He glanced around furtively to make sure his partner wasn’t on his way back before flipping it down to reveal a photograph of Gracie and a postcard. He reached up and slid the card from its place, running his fingers over the edge and smiling at the picturesque Hawaiian beach on the front.

He knew it would be Kono, Chin had called him a few times, Kamekona sent t-shirts but a handwritten postcard? Yeah, that was Kono. He read over the short paragraph again for the thousandth time ignoring the pang in his chest when he thought about five-o, Hawaii and Steve. He almost smiled when he remembered Steve’s disgusted look when he had seen the postcard of New Jersey, he wondered what face he would be making if he could see him now. Probably the same one he got when he worked out a case before Danny or when he found out that Danny had been learning to surf. Smug, so self assured about that stupid island and how oh-so-amazing it was.

Of course he had been calling and talking to them for a while about Steve’s murder charge and how to prove he was innocent but he had kept it strictly business.

He never asked if they visited him in prison, if he called them ever, if he mentioned Danny at all. No, it was his last case with the team and he was going to see it through like a professional.

A door slamming in the wind broke his focus and Danny quickly slid the postcard back in its place, grabbing his phone to scroll through his messages as the passenger door flew open. They ate in silence. It was not that Danny didn’t like the guy, he was a good cop, the was just not as engaging as he’d like, trying to get some banter out of the guy was like pulling blood from a stone.

But that was fine, he could just talk for the two of them except time moved so slow these days that it seemed that all he was doing everyday was talking. Although he would never admit it out loud or even just quietly to himself Danny knew deep down that he had made a mistake; that the pieces just didn’t fit like he thought they would and that was another thing.

 _Rachel,_ at first things were great they were fabulous but two months in something changed. Whether she was having second thoughts or sensed that Danny was he didn’t know but she was behaving oddly. Phone calls late at night, weird glances from her friends. Something was up and Danny was determined to find out what.

He finished his cheesesteak and balled up the paper it had been wrapped in, throwing it into the brown paper bag that served as their rubbish bin and placing both hands on the wheel. His eyes flickered up to the visor once more. Yeah, he missed Hawaii but to go back just seemed like an impossible dream, he couldn’t leave Grace; he couldn’t leave the new baby.

He glanced at his phone again blinking in surprise when a familiar face popped up on the screen, his own personal ringtone blaring out from tinny speakers.  Sexy eyes.  Danny stared and stared and stared until Richards coughed politely forcing him to break his gaze.

“Uh you gonna get that?” 

The detective wriggled in his seat and reached out to grab the phone and answering it with slightly shaky hands. “Steve?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god thank you all for your kudos and comments. It really means a lot!

“Danno.”

His voice was hoarse, it even sounded almost _emotional_. Danny decided it was probably just tiredness. At least, he hoped it was tiredness, he didn’t know how to cope with an unexpected emotional phone call from Steve.

At first he didn’t know what to say. So he tried acting like nothing was wrong, like he hadn’t been dying to talk to him. “Hey, what’s up? I heard you weren’t taking any visitors. Chin’s been going mad at me because you won’t let him visit you in the big house man.”

“Yeah yeah, listen Danno. I just...I’m getting out. Didn’t anybody call you?”

“What? No! When? How??”

“Long story. I-“ Steve’s breath hitched, Jesus it _hitched_. Danny licked his lips and turned his shoulder as if to hide the phone more from his partner. He knew his tone gave away how concerned he was but for once he didn’t care because his stomach was through the floor and he couldn’t breathe.

“Steve?”

“Danno I miss you.”

He didn’t even think, the words just tumbled out. “I miss you too babe.”

“I have to go.”

“Okay Steve-“

He hung up on him. Danny blinked a few times before lowering his phone and sliding it into his pocket. Richards was playing with his hands, he coughed again and when Danny looked at him he tilted his head to the side. “Steve? Wasn’t he your last partner?”

His stomach was going crazy, he just wasn’t sure if it was the cheesesteak or the phone call. “Yeah. Yeah he was.”

The rain was still pouring as the kids came bursting out of the school in a giant wave. Danny squinted, trying to make out Gracie in the swarm. He spotted her pink umbrella and quickly slipped out of his car to run over and lead her back. “Hey Monkey.”

“Hey Danno.”

He smiled, finally something to brighten up the leaden weight in his stomach. She was holding a large piece of card that was wrapped in a plastic bag. “What’s this?” He took it from her and slipped the plastic away revealing a large picture with her writing all over it and little stick figure drawings.

“It’s my art project.”

“An art project? You never mentioned this before?”

“It was supposed to be a surprise!”

Danny smiled and shrugged. “Oops.” Gracie giggled and Danny lifted it up to get a better look. “My best day.” He read the title and raised an eyebrow as Gracie started pointing at different places on the picture explaining what it was.

 “We were supposed to draw our best day this year.”

Danny looked at where she was pointing; there were palm trees and what looked like the ocean and a tall figure on a surfboard and two smaller ones on a beach. “So I drew when Uncle Steve taught me how to surf.”

 Danny almost frowned but managed to hide it behind a smile, despite feeling like he had been kicked in the stomach. He remembered that day too, Kono had promised to teach Gracie how to surf that weekend but one of her uncle’s had been in an accident. When Steve heard how disappointed Gracie was after Danny told her; he said they could come around to his house that weekend instead.

Danny hadn’t expected Steve to be waiting for them outside on the beach, nor was he expecting for them both to receive personal surfing lessons from the seal. “That was your best day?”

Gracie smiled and took the picture from him. “Yes.”

Danny resisted the urge to sigh and instead reached out to start his car, freezing when he caught Grace biting her lip in the corner of his eye. “What’s wrong Monkey?” He looked at her fully and she blinked back at him, her mouth down-turning a little at the corners.

“I miss Kono and uncle Chin and shave ice and surfing and my friends and Hawaii. And I miss uncle Steve.”

She looked so sad for moment he didn’t know what to do, his heart was breaking just looking at his little girl feeling so distraught so he reached out and pulled her into a one armed hug, kissing the top of her head and murmuring into her hair. “Me too Monkey, me too.”

Later that night after Grace had gone to bed and Danny had checked his phone for the hundredth time he finally gave in to temptation and took a picture of Gracie’s drawing on his phone, sending it to Steve before he could stop himself. He didn’t know why but the weird defeated tone to the commander’s voice that morning wouldn’t get out of his head and after he sent it the image of Steve getting out of prison to find that waiting for him on his phone made the lead weight just that bit lighter in his stomach.

“Who are you texting?” Rachel was stood in the doorway, arms crossed over her growing baby bump.

“Nobody.”

“Then why were you smiling like that?”

Danny raised his eyebrows and Rachel twitched her lips, she looked worried. He opened his arms and shrugged. “It was nothing, it’s just...Steve is getting out of prison soon so I thought I’d send him something to cheer him up. He didn’t sound like himself when he called this morning.”

“He called you?”

“Yeah, to tell me he was getting out.”

There was a weird tension in the air and Danny looked at his ex wife carefully. She was chewing on her thumbnail, eyes trained on the floor, hand rubbing over her bump. “Hey, something wrong?” But that was the problem, everything was wrong. Deep down he knew that their relationship still needed an awful lot of work, but they had Grace and the baby and he told himself that they had to at least try. He owed it to his family.

Rachel closed her eyes for a long time and Danny got up from the sofa, walking towards her slowly. Something was definitely up.  “Rach-“

“I have to tell you something.” She blurted it out, finally making eye contact with him, tears welling in her eyes.

“Okay...sit down.” He put his hands on her arms and she jumped a little but he kept them there, moving her slowly to the sofa to sit down. They were both silent for a minute and Danny watched her rub her hand over her bump taking short breaths in through her mouth and quickly pushing them out of her nose. She looked like she was in pain. Danny’s heart began to race and he struggled to keep the worry from his voice. “Are you and the baby okay?”

She looked up as a tear fell down her cheek and she shook her head. His heart skipped a beat. “Daniel, the baby is Stan’s.”

He had been walking for twenty minutes in the pouring rain without a jacket. His fingers had gone numb ten minutes ago. He finally could put the deep pain in his chest down to exertion instead of discovering he wasn’t going to be having a child, he wasn’t even going to be having Stan’s child. No, Stan and Rachel were going to try and work things out for the baby’s sake. He had lost both the kid and with it the perfect family image he was desperately striving for.  

He stared at the stupid ornamental pond in the stupid community park he had wandered into. It was murky and there were weeds growing at the side, dragging through the water. He thought about Hawaii and the beautiful blue ocean and the day he learnt to surf and how he sat out there on his board with Stevens thigh bumping into his as they bobbed on the water, the commander struggling to keep his board next to Danny’s as he explained how it was all about balance. Danny hadn’t really been listening; he had been switching his focus between that thigh, the droplets of water on Stevens’s ridiculous long eyelashes and his baby girls beaming face way back on the shore. 

He _had_ secretly wanted to go back to Hawaii; the only thing stopping him had been Grace and Rachel.

 Well now it looked like he had no choice.

When he got home he went straight to the bathroom and took a hot shower, walking to the bedroom in silence to find Rachel asleep in the bed. Her phone was still in her hand. Danny sighed and took it from her hand placing it back in the stand. He hesitated, and took one last look at her before he got his clothes from the wardrobe and changed into some pyjamas, sneaking around so he wouldn’t wake her.

The next day he dropped Grace off at his mother’s house for a sleepover. They still hadn’t told her she would be moving back to Hawaii and his mom had agreed to take her for the night so they could talk everything through. He didn’t ask how she knew he had just upped and ran when Rachel told him and she didn’t mention it. She just hugged her boy a little tighter than usual and gave him a sad smile as he drove away.

Rachel was reading her baby book when he got in, Grace’s laptop open next to her. “Hey.” He felt awkward now and walked to the kitchen to get a beer before she could start talking. It took her a few minutes but she followed him.

“Daniel, I didn’t want-“

“Look, Rach... When we got divorced we both thought it was because of my job. But we were wrong it wasn’t my job at all, we just don’t work as a couple. What has happened just proves that-“

 “Dan-“

”Let me finish. Look at it this way, you and Stan are having a baby, Grace is going to have a brother or sister and well... if I deserved a second chance  Stan deserves one too, after all Gracie already loves him and if you two **can** make it work then well...I’d be okay with that.”

He let out the breath he had been holding in. He had been thinking about that speech all day. He looked up from his beer to see Rachel crying silent tears and he didn’t know what to do. She shook her head and reached out for him and he put his arms around her back. “Oh Danny. I am so sorry. Everything just got so messed up. I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s alright Rach, it’s going to be fine.” He rubbed her back and she sniffled into his shirt.

“How are we going to tell Grace?”

“We can do it tomorrow when she gets home.”

She pulled away to look him in the eye, hand absentmindedly rubbing her bump. “Thank you Daniel, I am so _so_ lucky to have you in my life, Grace couldn’t have a better father.”

He felt awkward with her being so sincere so he just shrugged. She tilted her head and laughed. “Well, at least you get to go back to him now.”

Danny blinked furiously, his skin prickling. What did she mean, Steve was just a friend. “ _What?_ ”

She laughed and patted him on the arm. “I saw the postcard in your car Daniel. I know you’ve been missing Hawaii.”

He dropped his chin to his chest and attempted something that wasn’t a horrified rabbit in headlights stare. “That reminds me, I promised Chin I’d call so...”

She smiled a little tightly at him and he returned it. Well at least they were still able to talk to each other this time. He still cared for Rachel; she was the mother of his child for god’s sake. But he knew he was right, they just didn’t work together. “Um okay. Do you want a cup of tea or...?”

“Uh, yeah tea. Thanks.”

He walked back to the living room and grabbed the laptop, listening to Rachel pottering about in the kitchen, the click of the phone coming out of the base and then the door closed. She was obviously calling Stan to let him know how it went. Danny sighed.

When Chin’s face popped up on the screen he attempted a smile. Chin waved his hand a little and opened his mouth to speak but Kono was already pushing him out of the way. “Danny!”

“Hey guys. How’s things?”

“Well things are good, what about you, how are things out there?”

 He didn’t know what to say. Luckily he didn’t have to say anything because Kono was already away talking about her new neighbours and how they were so loud and she was trying so hard to resist going around there and pretending that she was conducting a raid because of all the noise.  He laughed as she told him about Chin locking himself out of his car and about how Kamekona was still trying to get her to sign up to work at his new shrimp shack. Then Chin butted in and asked him again how everything was.

“Its fine, everything is good. Raining a lot here.”

Chin narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything. Kono laughed. “Bet you miss Hawaii now Jersey boy.”

“What that pineapple infested hell hole? Never!”

They both laughed this time and Danny decided that it was probably a good place to end the conversation; he wasn’t ready to tell them he was coming back. Not yet. Chin had no such intentions.

“Oh hey wait, before you go. I got a surprise for you!”

“Oh yeah what is it?”

Chin was grinning so wide Danny knew it was going to be good. The cousins both shuffled out of shot and the camera wiggled and then suddenly Stevens slightly blurry confused face was staring at him and Danny sucked in a breath because he knew he was going to stop breathing any second. Steve’s eyes managed to find him despite the camera set up and he felt like throwing up. He looked so confused and nervous and as the image got clearer and Steve’s face came into focus he could tell how tired the man was, how stressed, his heart plummeted.

Danny blinked. Steve inhaled.

There was a weird pause and then suddenly Steve’s face broke into a wide grin and he wiggled his fingers at the camera. “Hey babe.”

Danny licked his lips. “Who let you out? I told them to keep you away from me. I told them, Hawaii isn’t safe with his super seal ass free to roam.” The commander’s laugh was like music to his ears and Danny joined in. “How are you babe? Miss me much?”

He could have sworn Steve’s cheeks reddened a little, but then it could have just been the webcams bad lighting. He liked to believe it was the former. Steve glanced to the side and Danny could hear the muted voice of Chin making his excuses and two different hands appeared on screen waving goodbye. Steve waited until the cousins were gone before speaking. “You know I did. “

He swallowed hard. “Yeah well, you’re not going to be feeling so sentimental when I’m tearing you a new one for driving my car along one of those dirt paths you call a road with me stuck praying I’ll live to see my grandkids in the passenger seat.”

It was worth jumbling his words to see the emotions scroll across his partners face. First confusion, then shock and finally something he could only class as a mixture of excitement and disbelief. “Wait, wait a minute. You’re coming back to Hawaii?!”

Danny smiled, admittedly it wasn’t as happy as Steve’s smile but then he hadn’t really seen anybody grin that wide since Grace found out that Santa had bought her the impossible to find must have Barbie doll last Christmas. “You heard it here first. “

“Woah woah woah, so you and Rachel are going to have the baby over here? I thought she wanted to live in-“

“Uh actually me and Rachel aren’t going to be doing anything together anymore.”

Steve’s smile dropped and he narrowed his eyes as if searching Danny’s face for something. “You’re not together anymore? But what about the ba-...oooh. The baby is Stan’s?”

“Yeah the baby is Stan’s. They are going to try and make it work and Grace and Rachel are moving back in with him and I am coming too and me and Rach are getting along much better and we agreed we should still be friends so yeah...yeah I mean everything is going to be okay.”

Steve was silent for a minute. “I’m sorry Danno.” His voice cracked a little as he spoke and Danny couldn’t look at him anymore. He dropped his gaze and looked at his palms.

“Yeah well, I mean it’s tough. I thought I was going to have another baby you know?”

“No.” Danny huffed out a breath and looked back up. Steve was staring at him earnestly. “I don’t know what that is like Danno... How is Grace taking the news?”

“We haven’t told her yet actually.”

“Oh right...”

Danny blinked and he smiled, Grace would be happy to go back to Hawaii. “She misses you guys you know.”

 Steve was smiling again, and rubbed a hand over his face before he spoke. “Yeah? I saw the picture you sent me. She really drew that?”

“Yeah she did.”

“It’s sweet. Tell her thank you from me.”

“Yeah I will.”

“Tell...tell her I was sad and it cheered me up.”

His heart broke a little at that. “I will babe, I promise.”

Steve licked his lips and Danny could hear his phone ringing in the background. “Hey I have to go...”

“Oh yeah of course.”

“I’ll talk to you later?”

“Oh yeah definitely.”

“Danno, I’m glad you’re coming back.”

 “Yeah me too.”

“Hey, try not to let it all get to you man. Mai poina foa ho’i mai.”

Danny grinned and Steve waved goofily again before his screen went blank.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your kudos! Concrit is welcome so please tell me what you think :)

The next two weeks were hell. Since Rachel and Danny had told Grace that she was moving back to Hawaii she had been talking about it non-stop. About how she was going to go surfing and was going to her friend Katy’s house for a sleepover and how step-Stan was going to take her hiking and Danny smiled and nodded through all of it despite the stone weight in his stomach.

He did want to go back, he did, it was just that the more he let himself think about it the more he began to worry he was idolising that stupid island as much as he had done with Jersey and he didn’t want to go back and find everything was not as perfect as he remembered. For god’s sake he was daydreaming about getting into shootouts with Steve again. He didn’t even want to address the way his insides squirmed when he thought about seeing Steve again.  


What if things were weird between them? What if he got there and everything was wrong?  


By the time he had everything packed and he was sat in his mom’s living room the night before his flight his nerves had been worn to the bone. His mom fluttered around him, fussing over Grace as she clung to her Danno. She kept crying and telling him she didn’t want him to go yet. He just put his arms around her and whispered that he didn’t want to leave her either but he had too, to make sure she had somewhere to go when she got to Hawaii and wanted to stay with him.  


It didn’t help.  


He finally got her to sleep by promising her he would definitely wake her up before he left in the morning. When he got back downstairs his Mom was rifling through his bags. “Mom! What are you doing?”  


“Just making sure you have everything sweetheart.”  


He shook his head and walked up to her, pulling her hands from his hastily packed clothes and slamming the suitcase lid shut. “I’m a fully grown man Ma; I can pack my own bags.”  


She just snorted and walked around him, this time opening the duffel bag on the sofa. There was a second where Danny was too focussed on closing his suitcase to realise what was happening. A second too late. “Is this your little team?”  


He dropped his chin to his chest. She had found the photo. How did she find the photo, he had buried it under a load of paperwork. The woman was psychic. He knew it. She was staring at the back of his head, waiting for an answer. Danny turned and looked at the picture in her hands. It had been taken at Kamekonas’s insistence when he celebrated the five year anniversary of his shave ice shack. He had set the camera up on a tripod outside and it had taken the team over ten shots to get just one where Kamekona wasn’t halfway back to the group, or blocking the shot or a random rollerblader was in the way. But they kept going until there were a few usable pictures and this was the last of the thirty or so.  


Steve had been stood in the middle with his arm draped over Danny’s shoulders, his other hand resting on Chins shoulder. Chin was knelt down in front of them with Kono to his left and Kamekonas massive form to his right. They were all smiling but only three of them were actually looking at the camera. Steve was looking down at Danny, his smile so wide it still gave Danny a weird feeling in his stomach just remembering being looked at like that. Danny? Well he was staring right back, laughing at his goofy partner as he bitched impatiently that this was the last shot he was going to be in.  


He kept to his word much to the team’s grief.  


Kamekona complained there weren’t enough good pictures in the bunch. Afterwards Steve had insisted he was allowed to take the memory card and save some of the pictures for himself. When he gave it back he had only saved one. Kamekona had asked him why he didn’t print the others since in that one he and Danny weren’t even looking but Steve just gave him that goofy smile again and said the last one was his favourite anyway.  


Truth was it was Danny’s favourite too.  


He looked at his Mom. She was smiling sadly at the picture, her eyes moving from face to face. “You look so happy.” Her voice wavered a little and Danny blinked in surprise. She was looking at him now, her eyes welling up a little with tears. “You are happy there right sweetheart?”  


“Yeah mom. I am.”  


“I miss you when you’re gone, the whole family does.”  


“I know Ma, I miss them too. But Grace-“  


She interrupted him, patting her son on the chest and shaking her head. “Still, they are your family too. We’ll just have to learn to share you I guess.” He blinked. Was she talking about the team? Or Rachel and Grace?  


“Mom... I-“  


“You know Gracie was telling me all the Hawaiian words she’s learnt over there; she said that your team is your Ohana. That means they are Family.” A tear trickled down her cheek and Danny pulled her into a tight hug. She was even shorter than him and he rested his chin on her head. She pulled away after a long pause. “Oh stop, I’m just being silly. After all me and your father can always come visit you once you get settled, the doctor said a little bit of heat would do me a world of good.”  


Danny nodded. “Yeah, that would be great.”  


She smiled and he joined in, taking the picture from her hand and giving it a glance. His eyes caught on Steves face again and his stomach dropped. Would he still look at him like that? Why did he worry so much about what Steve thought of him anyway? He had never worried about that with partners before.  


“You know, that tall one, he is quite cute.”  


Danny pulled a face. “I’m going to pretend you never said that.”  


“What? You don’t think he is handsome? Come on Daniel, I never thought you were blind but perhaps I am capable of being wrong...”  


He snorted. “I’m not blind Ma, he is obviously very handsome I mean just look at the guy. He looks like a male model for god’s sake. It’s just weird hearing you say that.”  


It only took one glance at her smug raised eyebrow before he realised what he had said and his entire face flushed. He had to stop her from looking at him like that or he was going to explode. He didn’t even know why he was so embarrassed, she was the one that had got the wrong idea here... Everyone noticed that Steve was handsome; it was just a fact that he was so why was it so weird that he noticed. He slammed the picture back into the bag and spun around on his heels, stamping away.  


“I’m going to bed now Ma.”  


She chuckled softly behind him. “Okay sweetheart. I will wake you up at 6.”  


“Thanks.”  


“I love you.”  


“I love you too Ma.”  


The next morning he slipped into the cab outside and rolled down the window as Gracie broke away from his Mom to run over and give him a final hug goodbye. “Bye Danno.”  


“Bye Monkey. I’ll see you soon.” She pulled back and frowned at Danny’s downturned mouth and narrowed eyes. He was trying very hard not to just jump out of the cab and hug his little girl. She put her hands on her hips and sighed giving him a look reminiscent of Rachel after he had tried to hide his fast food wrappers in his car during one of her ‘healthy eating’ weeks. “What is it Monkey?”  


“Why are you sad Danno, you get to see Uncle Steve again!”  


Danny had to look away so she wouldn’t see the worry flicker across his face. “I’m just going to miss you, that’s all.”  


She reached out and prodded at the corners of his mouth, dragging them up so he was smiling. “Don’t be sad.”  


“Okay.”  


“Promise?”  


“I promise. I’ll call you when I land okay?”  


She smiled and nodded. “Okay.”  


He waved out the back window at her for the full two minutes it took to pull out of his mom’s street. When he turned back around and slumped into his seat he let his head fall back to rest on the seat taking a deep breath. His phone beeped in his pocket. Had Gracie already left him a message? He pulled it out, glancing at the screen in surprise.  


Steve had sent him a picture. That was...weird.  


He opened the message and his eyes grew wide. Clearly a lot weirder than he thought. He stared at the picture using his phone to zoom in. It was a hastily drawn pair of stick figure men. One was twice the size of the other, wearing sunglasses and with its stick hands on its non-existent hips. The other was much shorter with a ridiculous quiff and was holding what was helpfully labelled as ‘the world’s most delicious pineapple pizza’ and appeared to be wearing a lei. At the top in Steve’s ridiculously large and flowing handwriting were the words ‘My best day to come’.  


Danny almost choked. The drawing was silly and weird and seemed to have been drawn in the shitty blue ballpoint pens Chin had stolen from his old precinct and the paper looked like it might have been a damages form and there was a faint coffee cup stain on the corner but Danny couldn’t stop staring at it. Like it was the most wondrous piece of art he had ever seen. And then he smiled, because this was so out of character for Steve and he probably did it really really late at night in his office which meant he had been sitting there thinking about Danny and that just made something in the jersey detective tighten and he grinned and shook his head. He glanced up to see the cab driver giving him weird glances in the rear view mirror and Danny just lifted his chin, looking out of the window with his smile still firmly in place.  


He wasn’t feeling so confident when his plane landed. He had reservations set up at a hotel downtown so he could start looking for a place the next day. He had only brought one suitcase and his duffel bag with him. The rest was packed up and in storage. He called Gracie as he was waiting for his luggage to come around the carousel.  


“Hey Monkey!”  


“Danno!”  


“Are you okay at home?”  


“Yeah! We went shopping and Stan promised we can go to the zoo on Monday!”  


“He did? Well tell him I said you can have a big animal balloon okay?”  


“I will Danno.” There was a brief pause as he heard Grace’s feet pattering on a wooden floor and then he heard a familiar gruff voice. “Stan! Danno said I can have a big animal balloon at the zoo!”  


Danny clutched the phone tight, Gracie sounded so happy. So excited. Yeah, she did love Stan and if his little girl loved him than Danny was happy for her. He could hear Stan’s surprised reply. “He did? Well then, what Danno says goes doesn’t it.”  


There was an excited squeal and the phone rustled. Okay so maybe it did hurt a little to know Stan was getting all the hugs right now. But he would have plenty of time for that when they got back to the island anyway. Danny deftly ignored the pain in his throat.  


“Danno. I miss you.”  


He blinked, surprised, he hadn’t expected her to suddenly be so sincere. “I miss you too Monkey.”  


“Tell Uncle Steve I drew him another picture.”  


“I will.” Danny saw his bags and reached out, holding the phone to his ear with the crook of his shoulder. “Okay Monkey, Danno has to go now. I have to go find a cool house for us.”  


“Can you get one with a pool?”  


He laughed. Of course that was her main concern. “Of course Monkey, I’ll do my best. I love you.”  


“I love you too Danno.”  


She hung up and he struggled to grab his bags and his phone at the same time, fumbling on the handles as he tried to turn around. Suddenly the bags were lifted clear of his hands and Danny grabbed his phone before it fell, sliding it into his pocket before looking up at his saviour.  


He sucked in a breath. Steves grin widened.  


He looked much happier now; in fact he was positively glowing. His skin was more tan than Danny remembered and his hair was a little shorter. Probably a standard issue jail cut. He was wearing a tight navy tee and those stupid combat pants with his clunky tan boots and he was still smiling at Danny like he was the best thing ever and Danny just opened and closed his mouth because no sound would come out.  


“Wow, I have actually managed to make Danny Williams speechless. I should get this noted down somewhere...” Steves smile just kept coming and Danny could feel all the expectation and fear and regret of leaving in the first place wash over him and he just wanted to find some way to apologise, to explain himself, to explain why he didn’t know whether to throw up or grab the man and do something with him.  


“What the hell are you doing here!?”  


Well that wasn’t any of the things he planned in his head but it did make Steve laugh so it would have to do.  


“What? You expected me not to come and get you?”  


“Well now you say out loud, what was I thinking. Of course your meddling ass wouldn’t have been able to resist. I just thought you had better things to do then driving me to my hotel.”  


“Well having been my partner for over a year I think you really should have known that even if you were staying in a hotel, driving you from the airport to it would be top on my list of priorities.”  


Danny narrowed his eyes. Although his heart skipped a little beat when he heard the genuine disbelief in Steves tone, he had noticed something off in that statement. “What do you mean if I were staying in a hotel? I have reservations...”  


Steve blushed. Or maybe it was just the sudden burst of sunlight hitting his face as they walked out of the airport. Danny couldn’t tell. “No, you had reservations. But I had them cancelled.”  


“What!?”  


Steve just smiled goofily at him and strolled to the back of the camaro. He popped the trunk and his head disappeared behind the lid as he heaved Danny’s bags into the back. The detective continued to gesture dramatically in silence, flinging his arms around because he really didn’t know what else to do to convey how angry and confused he was right now. He had already paid for that room. “Where the hell am I supposed to go Steven! I have already paid for that room! I don’t know about you but I can’t afford to spend money on hotel rooms I’m not using on a goddamn cops salary!”  


Steves head popped back up. His smile had dropped and he had concerned face no.2 on. Oh Steve hadn’t realised he had paid. Great now Danny felt guilty. Fantastic. “You paid for the room?”  


“Yeah. I did.” He was deflating a little. He didn’t want to upset the stupid SEAL already. He had been back on the island for less than an hour for god’s sake. Steve seemed to be thinking.  


“Well that’s fine. I will get your money back and anyway what were you thinking about, buying a hotel room. I don’t know whether I should be offended or not.”  


“What? What are you talking about?”  


“Well who comes to stay in Hawaii and pays for a room when they can stay with a friend for free?”  


Oh, OH. Danny’s stomach plummeted. He hadn’t even thought to ask if he could stay with Steve. The SEAL actually looked a little hurt and he walked around the car, slipping into the driver’s seat without another word. Danny rested his forearms on the camaro’s roof and took a deep breath. Right, of course he was supposed to stay with Steve.  


He could do this. It would be fine.  


He reached down and pulled the door open, dropping into his seat and clicking on his seatbelt without looking at the other man. He waited until they were flying down the busy streets before he glanced over. Steve was staring sternly out into the road, all traces of his excited smile from before gone. Danny licked his lips. “Hey. I’m sorry babe. I guess I just didn’t think about it.”  


Steve’s eyes flickered over and seemed to get stuck on Danny’s hesitant expression. The seal sighed and leant back on his seat. “Yeah well. You don’t have a choice now.” He smiled a little and Danny grinned back and suddenly it seemed like everything was going to be okay after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments and kudos! I would love some more concrit :)

When they got to Steves place the Seal insisted on grabbing Danny’s bags for him. The detective tried to argue but all it got him was the patented ‘I’m doing this and there is no way you can stop me’ face. So he just walked up to the door, unlocking it with the key he still had on his keychain. The lock snapped open easily and Danny smiled, it felt weirdly like returning home after a long holiday, vaguely sad but also relieving.

The smile faded a little when he turned around though, he watched Steves wince as he lifted the bags from the trunk. It was then he actually, properly looked at his partner for the first time since he got back. He was holding himself stiffly, tiny lines appearing by his eyes and at the corners of his mouth. Danny rushed forwards and took the bags from the commander.

Steve wouldn’t let them go, he frowned, Danny frowned and tugged again on the handles. “Steven. Let go of my bags.”

Steve turned his head away from Danny a little and tightened his grip. This was ridiculous. The Jersey cop was not going to back down, especially since he knew something was up with Steve. He stepped even closer, yanking the handles. It was only when Steve slowly released them and the weight shifted over to Danny did he realise that their hands were clenched together on the bags and since he, like an idiot, had stepped inwards their chests were now brushing and he could feel Steves breath on his face and something in his chest clenched and he just stared forwards until a tiny puff of breath indicated Steve was about to say something and he couldn’t take that right now so he spun around on the spot and all but ran towards the house.

Steve followed a few moments later.

The house was just as he remembered with Steves stuff all neatly packed away, everything in its place. The mark of a military man. Danny set his bags down by the door and walked over to the sliding doors, staring out at the stupidly bright blue sea. He could hear Steve’s boots scraping and he turned, smiling a little. His eyes caught on the case of beer and stack of raw steaks in the fridge, only visible for a moment before Steve shut the door with a thump, gulping down water from a bottle, a tiny trickle running from the corner of his mouth and down his neck as he swallowed and oh _god_.

Danny turned back around and stuffed his hands into his pockets. His tie felt too tight. “So, since you apparently get to decided where I’m staying tonight, what else do you have planned?” He winced at the suggestiveness of his question and deftly ignored the way his stomach flipped when he heard Steve choke a little in the background, the clearing of his throat.

 “Oh, no plans. I thought I’d just let you do your thing...you know whatever your thing is...”

Danny turned back around and crossed his arms to see Steve attempting an innocent face. That was all bullshit and they both knew it. “Come on Steve. I haven’t been gone that long. What did you have planned?”

The Seal looked away; his smile was so wide Danny had to look down. “Well, Chin and Kono and Kamekona wanted to be at the airport to meet you but I said you might be tired and we all know how cranky you are when you’re tired so-“

“Woah woah woah _cranky_? I might _be tired_? What are you my mother!?”

“So I said I would give Chin a text if you are up to having a little fry up on the beach.”

 Danny shook his head and for one poignantly sad moment Steves face dropped. “Well what are you looking at me for, call the team. Make it happen.” That earned him a bright beaming smile and Danny sniffed rubbing a hand over his face. Yeah, his partner really was just a giant child. He made his way over to the fridge and bent down, grabbing two beers and closing the door with his hip. Steves face had a weird expression but the SEAL took his beer gratefully and walked over to the sofa, throwing himself into the cushions. Danny decided not to press the issue.

And there was another thing; he didn’t hide his wince this time. Danny wasn’t sure if it was because he trusted Danny not to mention it or if he thought the detective wasn’t looking. He made sure not to look as Steve called Chin up; telling him it was all go on the get together. Danny strolled outside and started unloading the kindling and dry wood Steve always kept at hand into his barbecue so he didn’t have to stand there and watch. He was trying not to mention the wincing and the tiredness because he knew that if he did press it then he could end up ruining the first night back and anyway, he knew he wouldn’t like whatever it was Steve was hiding.

When he came back inside the fire had already begun to smoulder and Steve suddenly twisted around in his seat, throwing something into his mouth, swallowing and quickly hiding the container whatever he had eaten came in down between the sofa cushions.

Danny stared at him.

This was ridiculous.

He really **did** think the detective was stupid.

He felt indignant anger building up in his chest until he couldn’t let it simmer anymore and he slammed his beer bottle down on the counter, striding over to Steve and reaching straight down past his thigh and between the cushions.

“Oh hey! Woah!” Danny’s fingers closed around a small pill bottle and he yanked it out, staring at the label. “Danny listen-“

He held up a hand and Steve went silent. He read the label again, trying to remember why the name of the pills was so familiar. He twisted open the lid and shook the bottle watching the faint blue tablet clink against each other.

Oh _now_ he remembered.

 These were antibiotics, the kind they give you when you have suffered a deep wound and are in the later stages of healing. His hand clenched tighter and he finally looked down at his partner. “Take off your shirt.”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up. “What? Hey if you just wanted to see me topless you only had to ask Danno.”

He closed his eyes because he didn’t want to hear that right now. “You think I am being _cute_ with you right now? I am not playing around Steven. Take. Off. Your. **Shirt**.”

The commanders shoulders dropped and he leant forwards, his eyes trained on the floor as he struggled to take off that stupid tight t-shirt and Danny watched his muscles flex as he pulled it over his head revealing clean white bandages wrapped tightly around his torso and the detectives knees gave out.

He managed to land on the sofa next to his partner and he looked at Steve’s chest and the way his ribs and muscles moved as the man took a breath and he could only imagine what was under those bandages.

 He didn’t manage to stop himself.

He reached out, fingers pressing softly into the flesh just above the bandage, running down a little feeling the odd slightly wiry feel of the material and Steve seemed to have stopped breathing. Danny looked up at him. “What happened?”

He still hadn’t moved his hand. Steve cleared his throat, stomach muscles jumping under the detective’s fingers. “I fell through a window.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I _jumped_ through a window. I was chasing a suspect.”

He closed his eyes. “Does it hurt?”

“No.”

“ **Steven**.”

“A little.”

“Good. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“I told them not to. I know how you like to worry about things.”

He opened his mouth to say something, fingers still resting on the join between bandage and warm smooth skin. The door burst open and Chin strolled in, his grin lighting up his entire face. “Bad timing?”

Danny yanked his hand back and he actually saw Steve blush this time. He filed that image away for later. “Actually no. Perfect timing. Care to explain this?” He pointed at Steve’s bandaged torso and then stood up, hands on hips. Chin put on a mock serious face.

“Ho brah! What can I say? I guess I’m just not as good as you at stopping him acting like a lolo buggah.”

He laughed, happiness bubbling up in his chest chasing his anger away. Chin dropped the bags he was carrying and walked around the sofa to give Danny a hug, patting him on the back and chattering on about how he always knew he would come back.  Next through the door was Kono, just as calm and confident as her cousin, in her hands was a brown paper bag and Danny looked at it suspiciously the smell hitting him just as she pulled him into a one armed hug.

“Hey! I got something for you!”

Danny pulled back quickly because he already knew what was in that bag. “Oh god, please tell me you-“

“Malasadas!” She thrust the bag up and into his hands and Danny beamed as the trio made their way to the kitchen, the jersey detective’s mouth watering. Oh the dreams he had endured about these malasadas. Halfway through his second he noticed that Steve wasn’t stood in the kitchen with them. Instead, he was hanging back.

He left the cousins to argue over the proper way to cook a tuna steak and moved towards Steve with the pretence that he was just getting another beer. The SEAL didn’t look at him. Danny cleared his throat and cocked one hip as he leant against the wall watching his partner carefully. He glanced around for something to say, biting the inside of his cheek.

“So, just so you know that picture you sent me? Never going to happen.”

Steve blinked and his head snapped around and Danny couldn’t help but let the unexpected grin burst out onto his face because he could _see_ the confusion and then the recognition and finally embarrassment flooding Steve stupidly over expressive face. He licked his lips. Steve flushed and looked down to his beer with a tiny grin that did things to Danny stomach he didn’t even want to think about.

It was then he remembered, he frowned and stamped across the room grabbing the beer from his partners hand and putting it on the coffee table. “Hey! What are you doing?”

“You shouldn’t be drinking when you’re taking those pills Steve. Don’t be an idiot.”

The SEALs mouth hung open for a couple of seconds and Danny shrugged heading back over to Chin who was brandishing a large fish slice at Kono who had both hands on her hips giving as good as she was getting. The detective glanced over his shoulder just as he reached the lana’i and almost choked when he saw the expression Steve had on his face.

Like he had just been _caught_.

For a few minutes Dannys brain shut down because he could have sworn that for a split second Steve was looking at his arse which sent him into a tiny panic in case he had sat in something or had torn his pants or even worse, Steve had been checking him out. He was not ready to process stuff like this. His _first_ day back for god’s sake.

The rest of the night went off without a hitch and it was late when Chin and Kono left. Danny yawned scratching his head as he put the leftover food back in the fridge, Steve locked the doors padding around like a zombie. They headed for the stairs at the same time, walking up in tandem. Danny felt awkward, he didn’t know what to say and the sleepy fulfilled mood had dissipated almost instantly as the weird tension rose. They reached the landing and Steve began to walk to his room, pausing in his doorway. He looked back.

“I’m really glad you’re here Danno.”

Danny blinked. Steves voices was low, soft and the detective lifted his chin, hands on hips fighting not to show just how fast his heart was racing. “Uh...thanks. It’s good to be back.”

Steve smiled a tiny sleepy grin and moved forwards, his face disappearing from view for a few seconds. Danny was closing his own door when he spotted Steves face peering back around the doorframe. He raised his eyebrows. “What?”

Steve gave him a long look as if considering something. “Nothing.” The commander’s face disappeared and Danny was left alone and confused in the dim landing light.

He barely slept that night. No matter how much he tossed and turned he couldn’t stop thinking about Steve and his stupid face and the stupid bandages and Steves smooth heated skin under his fingertips.

 He woke up some time in the afternoon the next day. The sunlight making streaks across his ceiling as the smell of the sea flowed in through the open window. He dragged himself from between the soft sheets and went downstairs to find Steve gone, a note pinned to the fridge in the commanders illegible scrawl.

‘ _Gone to meeting with new Gov. Be back at 5_ ’

Danny glanced at the clock in the kitchen. It was 2 o’clock. He sighed and glanced around not knowing what to do with himself. Deftly ignoring that he was supposed to be looking for his own place Danny strolled back upstairs to use Steves ridiculously complicated but heavenly shower, letting the water clear his head. Whilst stood under the downpour he decided to make himself a drink and maybe sit out on the beach for a bit, after all what was the point in having a private beach if you didn’t use it.

This idea seemed relaxing but actually only worked for exactly ten minutes. He was sat in the sand staring out at the ocean when he heard quiet murmuring in the distance and he looked over to see Steve’s elderly neighbours strolling hand in hand across their own little portion of paradise. They were mostly silent except for a few words every now and then, simply enjoying being alone together.

Danny went back inside.

That was what he had always imagined he would end up doing when he married Rachel. He had imagined them old with greying hair wearing too big shorts and walking along a beach together with their kids and their grandchildren.

He walked straight through the house and out the front, instantly deciding he should catch up with Kamekona to distract himself, find out why he hadn’t been at the get together. When he got to the driveway he realised Steve had taken the camaro.

Of _course_ he had, Danny had left him the car when he had left Hawaii.

Technically it was Steve’s car now. Except of course, ever since they had met Steve had commandeered the driver’s seat and Danny had put up almost no fight. For months now it had been _their_ car. Danny slapped a hand to his face and turned on his heel, what the hell was he _thinking_?

When he got back inside he grabbed Steves truck keys from the hook by the door and jogged outside to climb up into the black vehicle, scoffing at the ridiculousness of his situation.

When he got to the Shave ice shack he found Kamekona sunbathing in a tiny rickety chair outside, dark sunglasses hiding his eyes. Danny walked up to him and waited but he didn’t acknowledge him. “Kamekona?”

The mountain of a man jumped and leant forwards, his glasses sliding down his nose a little. “Ho brah! You scared me.”

“Oh I’m sorry. What are you even doing out here? Shouldn’t you be serving that queue of customers you’ve got there?” He raised his eyebrows and Kamekona turned his head a little his eyebrows also rising when he saw the five or six people patiently lined up outside the shack.

“You know what they say, got to make them wait.” Danny just shook his head.

He was on his way back from catching up with Kamekona when he heard an unexpected and yet familiar voice. “Danny Williams?”

He turned around to see a woman, slightly taller than him with long brown hair and dark brown eyes. He laughed in surprise. “Marnie??” His first high school girlfriend, she moved away after a year and he hadn’t seen her since.

“Oh my god! I can’t believe it’s you! It’s been so long...What are you up to these days?”

Danny didn’t know what to say, she walked up to him and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him in for a tight hug, he put his arms around her and squeezed back. “Oh right now? I’m apartment hunting actually.”

“Apartment hunting?”

“Uhh yeah, I just moved back here so...”

“Wait, _back_?”

“Yeah I moved here a couple of years ago and then was back in Jersey for a while and now I’m back here. For good this time... I think.”

“Oh wow. Well I’ve been here since we left Jersey so...” She trailed off her eyes travelling over his face then following the line of his body and hovering on his hand. Danny laughed she had always been about as subtle as Steve when he was about to do something stupid.

“So what about you?”

“Me? I’m in the property business actually.”

 “Oh really? Know anywhere with two bedrooms that I could afford on a cops salary?”

She laughed and crossed her arms. “Ahh so you’re a cop now. I always said you’d make it.”

“Yeah, I’m with the 5-0 actually...well usually...” How did he even begin to explain his situation? Her smile dimmed a little and she tilted her head.

“Wait, 5-0? Weren’t you guys in the news a while back...the governors murder?”

“Uh yeah. Yea we were...” “I knew it wasn’t that SEAL guy as soon as I saw him on the news. He just has an innocent face you know?”

Danny blinked his face heating up. He remembered Steve’s expression and the way his voice wavered when he called out to Danny as Chin put him in the car. He had sounded almost frightened, so insistent that Danny had to understand that he hadn’t killed her. The kick in his chest as he realised Steve honestly thought Danny would believe he had just murdered her. He honestly thought Danny wouldn’t believe him.

He hadn’t noticed he’d been quiet for a long time and she was now looking at him sheepishly. Danny shook his head opening his mouth to say something witty about Steve being the least innocent person he knows but she interrupted. “Anyway forget I mentioned work. What about everything else? How does your girlfriend feel about you moving around so much?”

 Danny laughed. She was just as smooth as he remembered. “Divorced actually, with a daughter.”

“Oh wow! That’s great! ... I mean the kid thing not...not the divorce...sorry, I’m no-“

“It’s fine really. Me and my ex are still good friends so. What about you? No boyfriend or husband or...”

“I’m engaged actually. Will be for a while; don’t want to follow my baby bump down the aisle.”

“Oh wait, you’re _pregnant_!?”

“Yep. Four months.”

“Oh congratulations, that’s fantastic.” Danny’s phone buzzed as she pulled him into another hug and he pulled back flipping it out. A text from Steve. ‘ **Need to see you at headquarters**.’ His heart raced a little. “Uh well, it was great to catch up but I have to go...work stuff.”

“Okay. Hey listen, here’s my card. Give me a call if you can’t find a place and I will see what I can do?”

Danny took the card and grinned. “Thanks.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well thank you for your comments! I have edited the previous chapters so the spelling/colloquialism issues should be fixed. Please don't let up, I love concrit!

When he got to the office he was greeted by Chin and Kono heading in the opposite direction, their twin raised eyebrows and slightly amused faces clueing him in that Steve was not in the best mood right now. He bared his teeth back raising his eyebrows to show he understood the message and tried to appear as nonchalant as possible when he strolled into Steve’s office.

The SEAL was sitting at his desk cleaning his gun, tiny frown lines across his brow and short angry puffs of breath. “What’s eating you?”

Steves face made a mad dash for neutral and the commander sat back in his chair blinking wide eyed up at his partner. “I just got back from my meeting with the new governor.”

“Right...What did he say you can’t hang people off buildings anymore or-“

“We talked about you.”

Steve interrupted his careful neutrality shattering as he frowned, arms crossed and Danny raised his eyebrows.  “Me? What about me?”

“I told him that you were coming back to the island and so I would be making you my partner again asap.” There was a long pause, Danny licked his lips because now all he could think was that this new governor had decided they didn’t work well together or something and Danny was going to be shipped out somewhere else and his stomach began to sink. “He said he isn’t sure about me just bringing some untested guy in.”

 Anger boiled in Danny’s stomach and he clenched his fist. “ _Untested_??” His voice had risen and he put a hand to his forehead trying not to start punching things as the familiar rage began to bubble in his veins. There was a second where the ghost of a sad smile was on Steves lips before the SEAL lifted a hand and waved away Danny’s indignation.

“Obviously I mentioned that since you had been my partner for over a year evidently you were well tested and-“

“I’m not allowed to be your partner.”

Dammit. His voice wavered a little there at the end and Steve’s eyebrows drooped. There was a long minute where Steve’s unrelenting gaze bore into him and Danny began to feel uncomfortable. What was he thinking? Normally the SEALs thought were written across his face but right now? Right now Danny couldn’t even look him in the eye and he couldn’t understand what his partner’s furrowed brows and the weird twitch to his lips meant.

“Originally yeah that was what he wanted but I told I wasn’t having that so we worked out a deal...”

He didn’t know what he was more surprised about, that Steve hadn’t stubbornly stuck to his guns risking the wrath of the governor or that the governor hadn’t just crumbled like everybody else did under the commanders’ stupid soul searching gazes. It would be interesting to meet the man.

Meet him and then punch him in the face.

“A deal? What do I have to do?”

Steve leant back in his chair and put his hands behind his head which emphasised his biceps and the lean stretch of his neck and Danny stared for minute before he realised that gawping at your partner like that was probably not the norm. He turned away for a second and ran a hand through his hair trying to remember to breathe as he came down from his sudden burst of adrenaline and anger. Whatever the governor wanted he would give him because the idea of coming back to Hawaii and not being in five-0 was killing him.

“He wants you on a probationary period with HPD for a while and then he wants you to take part in some test he gives his personal bodyguards. He asked me if I thought you could do it.”

Danny’s heart sank because there was nothing worse than being treated like the newbie. He had been dealing with that every single time he moved, it didn’t matter how long he had been with Jersey PD or HPD every time he came back they treated him like some fresh out of the academy idiot.

“So what did you say?”

“I told him to expect you at HPD first thing Monday morning.”

Danny nodded lifting his chin, looking closely at Steves face for any clear sign of what he was supposed to do till then. Steve stared right back and there was a weird tension between them and it kept rising and rising as they both just stared until Danny finally relented and looked away. He sniffed and ran a hand through his hair again, taking the time to eye his partners’ posture.

Steve was sitting stiffly, normally he would still be poker straight but body normally relaxed into it as though he was his most comfortable at parade rest, his shoulders drooping, feet curling around each other, but not today. Today his feet were planted firmly next to another and his shoulders were held high, arms rigid on the desk. He looked like he was fighting not to slump. Danny crossed his arms, tilting his head and staring pointedly until Steve spoke up.

”What?”

“How are your ribs?”

“I’m fine.”

“Don’t give me that, you look like shit.”

Steve glared at him his voice taking on abrupt tone. “Well thank you for the compliment. You don’t have to mother hen me you know, I am capable of taking care of myself.”

“Oh yeah sure, you have really proved that.” Danny gestured to the commanders ribs and Steve slammed his hand on the desk. They glared and each other. Danny licked his lips and Steves eyes darted down. The detective decided to be the bigger man and back down. This time. He took a step back and held up his hands in defeat.

The weird tension was making them act this way; normally Steve would have just jibed him back. Obviously he wasn’t in the mood for banter. Danny ignored the sinking of his stomach; he was not a child being denied his favourite toy. He had just had a tiff with his boss that was all. This was stupid.

“Right, well, since I guess I don’t have work to do I should go and look for a place.”

Steve’s mouth twitched and he reached into his desk, pulling out a business card and pushing it across his desk towards Danny. His voice was much quieter now and his eyes betrayed that he regretted getting angry. Danny made sure to smile a little at him; he didn’t want to leave them on a bad note. “I uh...heard they are pretty good.”

Danny took the card from under Steve’s fingers ignoring the way they almost curled around his reflectively. He was still flustered from their argument and he pulled at his collar a little, his face was hot and the detective knew he was probably blushing. He turned away throwing a hand up as a goodbye.  “Thanks.”

When he got back to the house he wandered out to the lana’i and sat down with his back propped up against the house staring out at the waves. He knew he was supposed to be calling the agent but the idea of talking to a overly cheery liar after finding out he was being put on the sub bench was a little too much to face so instead when he pulled out his phone he speed dialled 4 and closed his eyes as it began to ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey you. How was the zoo? Did you get the balloon you wanted?”

“Yeah! But it popped in the car on the way back!” Grace chattered happily in his ear for a solid ten minutes before stopping for a breath. There was a long pause and then she spoke up again. “Did you find a house? Does it have a pool?”

“I haven’t found one yet monkey, but don’t worry Danno is doing his very best to find the perfect house for us.”

“How long until I can come to see you?”

“I’m not sure babe, Danno has to sort some stuff out at work first before Mummy’s lawyers let you stay with me-“

“Mummy said you have to hurry because when the baby gets too big inside her she isn’t allowed to fly on an airplane.”

“I know that monkey and that is why daddy is trying very hard to get things set up here.”

“Okay. Is uncle Steve not letting you work?”

“ _What_?”

“Are you not working because Uncle Steve is your boss and said you’re not allowed too?”

“No no no, its Steves boss that doesn’t want me to work for five-0 anymore but you don’t need to worry because we did what good responsible grownups do and we made a compromise. Promise me you won’t worry about my job okay?”

“I promise. Anyway that’s a silly reason not to work because Uncle Steve doesn’t have a boss.”

“Wait _what_?”

“He told me himself. He said that if something happened to you or me or mummy then I don’t need to worry because there is nobody who can stop him from fixing it. If he had a boss they would be able to stop him wouldn’t they?”

Danny was speechless. He really should have listened more when Grace was around Steve. He had no idea how he missed that particular conversation. “Hey let me tell you why that is.  You remember Billy from that play group you used to go to?”

“The boy who used to eat crayons?”

“Yeah, you remember how Marjorie was in charge and how you all had to listen to her when she told you to do something because she was the boss?”

“Yeah...”

“Well you remember that Billy still ate the crayons even though she told him not to didn’t he.”

“Yeah but that’s because he was naughty and he just ignored what she told him...Uncle Steve is like Billy.”

“That’s right. Now, I have to go and find you your house with a pool okay?”

“Okay. I love you Danno.”

“I love you too. Bye.” She hung up. Danny slammed his head back into the wall. Dammit. Why did every conversation he had have to end up being about Steve.

His next call was to the estate agent. An overly bubbly man answered the phone and instantly started asking him what his name was why he was calling, whether he was considering the new development just out of town. Danny answered his barrage of questions and was soon being handed over to an equally bubbly if slightly deeper voiced man. “Hello, my name is John; I am in charge of rentals. So I have the details you provided Mike here...I see you are a cop and your budget is-“

The man’s tone dropped the cheery edge and if anything he sounded slightly disappointed “- _oh_.”

Danny sighed, fantastic. They were going to tell him they had nothing in his price range he knew it. “Well detective Williams you have nothing to worry about, I am sure we can accommodate your circumstances. Now do you have access to a computer?”

Well that was not at all reassuring. Danny shook his head. “What? Why?”

“Well it would be easier to weed out the unlikely properties if you could look through the rentals on our website and then we could set up some appointments for viewings for tomorrow.”

“I uh...”

“I was under the impression you wanted to find a home under very short notice...”

“Yeah. Hang on.”

Danny got to his feet and brushed the sand from his pants as he padded back inside. He knew Steve had a laptop in the house somewhere and surely the SEAL wouldn’t mind him using it for five minutes. He found it in the kitchen area under a small pile of files. Danny flipped the lid open and was surprised to find it had been left on standby and there was no password.

He gave himself a mental note to ridicule Steve about that later. Even as technologically inept as Danny was, he still knew a password was probably a good idea. What he also didn’t expect was for the screen to blink to life revealing a web browser already open with Steves email open in it.

His eyes drifted down the page latching on his own name in the text before he even realised that what he was doing was snooping and he quickly opened another tab.

An hour and a half later he had managed to book three viewings for the next day and sat back in his chair, clicking off his tab to suddenly be reminded of the email. He could see it was from Mary and before he knew it he had read halfway down the page his heart beat rising as he got closer and closer to his name and there it was.

‘As for Greg, no it didn’t work out. I did what you said and I told him the truth and surprise surprise he didn’t take it so well. You know what that means brother; I went through on my part of the deal. Are you going to tell Danny the truth? You better had.’

There was the sound of crunching gravel outside and Danny jumped in his seat quickly closing the window and trying to start the shutdown on the computer. It was still turning off when Steve walked in the door. Danny swallowed hard, his heart was thundering in his chest and he was desperately trying to hide the guilt he felt from rising in his face. Steve narrowed his eyes and glanced from the open laptop screen to Danny and back again. The tension was killing him.

“What are you doing?”

“I was just using your internet to look at some places...”

Steve nodded licking his lips, his eyes flickered away for a second and Danny took a deep breath. “Oh...was the computer on when you got here?”

Danny feigned ignorance. “What? No it wasn’t. Why? What’s up with you?”

Steve seemed to relax a little and he put his keys down on the side unit, toeing his boots off before slumping into his sofa. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

Danny twisted around in the chair and fought the urge to ask him just exactly what he was keeping from him. But he didn’t, because that meant admitting he saw the email and that he not only saw it but read it all too. He didn’t want to fight with the SEAL today. “So did you find anything?”

“ _What_?”

“Places Daniel, did you find any places. You know, to look at?” Steve probably just saw him flailing like that. Danny groaned internally, clearly he was a terrible liar.

“Oh uh yeah. I have three booked for tomorrow so...” Steve just nodded and Danny turned back around to shut the screen.  

He barely slept that night, the waves kept crashing and crashing and no matter how much he tried to put it out of his mind all he could think about was what exactly Steve was keeping from him. Was it the rib injury? Danny didn’t think so and he also didn’t know why the idea that Steve had secrets from him that didn’t fall under the scope of SEAL business.

Eventually he gave up trying to sleep and instead go to his feet and padded to the kitchen. Unfortunately Steves coffee machine was some NASA level chrome monstrosity with a stupid array of buttons and the detective turned right back around heading for the shower in an attempt to wake himself up a bit.

When he got out he put on a clean pair of pants and a fresh shirt and decided to have another go at the coffee machine. What he didn’t expect was to find Steve placing a first aid kit on the kitchen counter, dry suit pulled down to his waist so he was topless except for his bandages.  

Danny watched what he assumed was sea water drip drown his partners face and onto his naked chest and he bit his lip because for some reason seeing Steve in the pale morning light, water zigzagging over his cheekbones and clinging to his stupidly long eyelashes made his stomach flip. Yeah, so Steve was attractive. Danny was allowed to notice that, it didn’t mean anything; it wasn’t like he was actually attracted to him or anything...

The SEAL didn’t seem to notice he was there and started setting out scissors, bandages and pads out on the counter. Danny raised his eyebrows as the man started picking at the tape holding his bandages down tugging at it uselessly. He finally took pity on his partner and walked over to him grabbing the scissors and snipping quickly through the tape. Steve jumped and grabbed Danny s arm his big round eyes blinking in shock.

“Danny!”

The detective took a step back and Steve put his hands back on the unit, leaning away from his partner. Now he was closer Danny could see a slight flush on the SEALs cheeks and that he was breathing heavily. It must have been one hell of a morning swim.

“What are you doing?”

“I have to change my dressing.”

“Wait, are you telling me they have been letting you do it?” This time he knew Steve was blushing.

“Uh no actually, the nurse did it last time but she said it’s not as bad and that since it is healing I can do it at home.”

 He looked down at Steve’s ribs and back up. He was filled with a urge to tut at his partner like Danny mother used to when he came home covered in blood.“Let me do it.”

“What? No, it’s pretty gross.” Steve was waving his hands at his partner, shaking his head.

“Look I spent my childhood in jersey. I have seen my fair share of bad scrapes Steven. Anyway, you can’t reach all the way around your back. It would be easier it I did it.”

Steve looked away and nodded breathing heavily out of his nose. “Fine.”

Danny smiled and reached out grabbing the end of Steves bandage, rolling it around and around his partner’s waist. He deftly ignored that Steve seemed to have stopped breathing and that he was essentially pressing himself up against the half naked still-wet SEAL every time he rolled the bandage around his back. He coughed, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat. Steve smelt like a mixture between the sea and clean cotton and Danny took a deep breath, breathing it in before he realised he was actually sniffing his partner like a creepy weirdo on a park bench.

When the last of the bandages came off he quickly took them and rushed around the table to put them in Steves bin, his face flushing deep red. Shit. Okay so yeah, maybe he was a little attracted to Steve. That was fine, he could cope with that. It was just because he hadn’t seen him for a while; everything would go back to normal after a week at most. He was regretting offering to help his partner out now.

When he came back Steve was picking at the wounds on his hip. He slapped the man’s hands away and gave him a stern look. “Don’t do that, it is not helping.”

Steve shrugged a Danny took a closer look at the cuts. Steve’s torso was covered in tiny red scratches, his left side suffering much deeper wounds including three large gashes that stretched from just under his ribs and went right around and up his back a little. It was almost like Danny could see exactly on Steve where he had hit the window. The cuts still had thick black stitches and were red and irritated looking but clean enough with surprisingly no sign of infection.

“Oh this isn’t that bad.”

“You think?” Danny looked up at Steve who was eyeing his own torso with interest.

“Although, I would’ve thought it would be better healed by now.”

Steve bared his teeth as Danny reached out around him to grab the antiseptic wipes form the unit. “Well yeah but I tore my stitches the day before you came back so...”

“You did _what_!?”

Steve bit his lips and shrugged. “It was an ac-“

“It you even think of saying it was an accident I will kill you.” Steve shut his mouth with a snap and Danny started absentmindedly rubbing over his partner’s chest with the wipes, being careful not to press too hard. He did this muttering under his breath about how inept Steve was, how he should never have left him to his own devices, until he began to move around to Steves back and the SEAL suddenly tensed up as he passed under his armpit.

Danny paused and repeated the moment and Steve stomach muscles clenched. The detective raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Wait a minute.”

Steve groaned and looked away from him and Danny laughed. “Are you _ticklish!?”_

Steve blushed deeply and Danny reached up again rubbing gently over the same spot and Steve all but threw himself away from the detectives touch. “Oh my god.”

“Just finish up would you.”

Steve was glaring at him and the detective took pity on him, remembering of course to emabress Steve with this information later. Right now he just wanted to make sure the man’s medical issues was sorted out properly before he let him out for another day of reckless self destruction. He held up his hands in surrender and finished disinfecting the wounds, placing a clean pad over the top before wrapping Steves chest tightly again. When he was done he bit off a piece of tape and rubbed it to make sure it stuck before stepping back and opening his arms wide.

“Ta da! I think you owe me a coffee for that.”

Steve grinned. “Thanks...you don’t know how to use my machine do you?”

The navy SEAL was halfway through his lecture on how many times you were supposed to press each of the identical buttons to just get one shot of hot water from the damn thing before his phone rang and Danny was mercifully ignored. He wandered back into the living room and slumped onto the leather chair, curling his bare feet in the rug. He glanced up at Steve’s official Navy portrait, hung on the wall above a potted plant. It had been taken a few years ago and Steve was wearing his patented I’m so serious right now that I could be told the worlds funniest joke and would merely blink and look away.

He looked so handsome, his eyes were darker than usual betraying his seriousness and reflecting his uniform but then Steve’s eyes always did change colour. Bright, shining and blue, dark and stormy with hints of grey or (Danny’s personal favourite) warm and fond with light green tones.

Danny looked away.

So he had a crush on his partner. This wasn’t a problem; he wouldn’t let it become one.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your kudos and comments! All concrit is welcome :) I love hearing what you think.

He hated every single place he had been to see. Every time he found somewhere he thought was good enough he would always find _something_ that ruined it for him. In the first place it was the layout, the second the location, the third was in the middle of two houses filled with young people whose music blared out loud enough from both sides that Danny didn’t even make it to the door before he turned around and got back in the car.

When he got home that night Steve asked him how it went and only got an exasperated groan in reply. “That bad huh?”

“I think I am destined to be homeless forever.”

“Hey, you aren’t homeless.” Danny opened his eyes. Steve looked a little bit hurt. “I said you could stay here as long as you need to and I meant it Danno.”

“I know that but I promised Grace a house with a pool and her own room and I would be letting her down if I don’t manage to find her that.”

“She would just be happy to get to stay with you wherever you live, you don’t have to rush it.”

“Yeah, I guess I just want to find somewhere suitable as quickly as possible because if I don’t it will be too late for Rach to fly and then I won’t get to see my daughter for months.”

Steve frowned and crossed his arms. “Well why don’t you just let the lawyers know that you are staying here and then they can fly over? Grace can just visit you here until you find the perfect place.”

Danny scooted up his seat and leant forwards propping his elbows on his knees. Was Steve honestly offering to open his home to Danny’s daughter like it wasn’t a big deal? Like he had just offered to buy him a drink when he was already on his way to the shops.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, what? Is there something wrong with my house?”

“No that’s not-“

“Because I was raised in this house and so was my sister and we survived it perfectly fine thank you. I have the room, the ocean is right outside so he doesn’t even need a pool and this place is within walking distance of downtown and Graces school. So there is no problem right?”

Danny blinked as Steve angrily listed of the reasons why this was apparently happening. “Alright alright, I uh...I guess I need to call Rach then. Didn’t know you took it that personally...”

Steves stern gaze slipped into a wide open smile and Danny grinned back because what just happened was probably Steves way of saving Danny the embarrassment of having to settle for a place he hated.

Steve finally made him that coffee as he placed the call.

“Hello?”

“Rach?”

“Daniel?”

“Yeah, listen, I have to ask you something.”

“Oh, hang on a second. “

Danny looked up as Steve passed him his drink and smiled appreciatively, his partner’s fingers dragging over his wrist as he pulled away. He could hear Rach talking to Grace in the background; he glanced over to his partner as thought to check the SEAL was sure about this and found nothing but an expectant happy smile in return.

Damn, Steves face really lit up when he smiled. Danny regretted turning to check now.

“Is that Grace?”

 “Yeah, do you want to talk to her?”

“Not yet I need to ask you first...”

“Okay I’m listening.”

“It’s really difficult to find a place over here right now and as you know Steve is letting me crash at his place while I’m looking.”

“Right...”

“Well since it is so hard to find the right place he wants to know if it is okay that Grace stays here at his place when you guys come over because that would take the pressure off me trying to find somewhere before you can’t fly an-“

“He does realise the lawyers are going to want to take a look around?”

“Yeah he does. Look, Steve and his sister grew up in this house and it’s in a perfect location and it’s not like she will be living with a stranger. Grace _loves_ Steve.”

“I know that. Well **I** have no problem with it, why don’t you ask her what she thinks.”

Steve was watching Danny with a weirdly intense stare and kept shifting from foot to foot. Danny smiled at him again because for once it seemed like the SEAL might have found a temporary fix to a problem that didn’t involve blowing things up or stealing things and Danny was so _so_ grateful.

“Danno?”

“Hey monkey, did mummy tell you the good news?”

“No she didn’t! What good news?”

“How would you feel about staying with me at Uncle Steves place when you come back to Hawaii?”

She squealed so loud Danny had to take the phone away from his ear to stop himself going deaf. Steves anxious face broke into a beaming bright smile and Danny beamed too.

“Really!? Danno Uncle Steve has a _beach_!!”

“I know monkey, I take that as a yes you would be okay with that?”

“Yes yes yes yes. Jennie is going to be so jealous; she just has a pool in her back garden.”

Danny laughed, yes Jennie should be jealous. “Okay then, pass me back to mummy then monkey.”

“Okay!”

Rach’s voice was now amused and he could almost see the smirk on her face. “I take that she is happy with that arrangement then. This is good Daniel; Stan really wanted the baby to be born in Hawaii since his doctor is there. I am just so glad everything is working out.”

“Yeah me too Rach, me too.”

It took less than ten minutes for word to get round to his mother. Danny was washing his coffee mug out in the sink when he heard his phone ring in the other room and then Steve answering it nonchalantly like he was allowed to just do that. He was back in the living room within seconds.

“Uh, yeah I am.” Steve’s eyebrows were raised and he smirked at Danny who slapped a hand to his forehead. The last thing he needed after his little chat with his mom about Steve was for the man to answer Danny’s phone to talk about how he was living with him now.

Somewhere up there somebody hated Danny and he knew it.

“Yes maam. Danny is a close friend of mine and I would do anything to help him out in a time of need.” Steve was nodding now, his brow furrowing slightly and he lifted a had to his face sucking a little on his thumb before biting down on the pad, humming in response to whatever Danny’s mom was saying. The detective swallowed hard, watching Steves tongue sweep out over where he had bitten the flesh and then Steve thoughtlessly swiping his thumb over his lips and Danny threw himself into the chair turning his face away to hide his blush.

This crush was not going to be helpful at all.

“Hey, it’s for you...”

The phone was nudged gently against his shoulder and Danny took it without looking. He just tilted his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. “Mom?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you finally made a move on that soldier boy?”

He ignored the stupid urge to correct her. Steve wasn’t a soldier; he was a SEAL in the Navy. “Because I haven’t mom, He is-” Danny glanced sideways and Steve pointedly looked down at his mug as though the half filled lukewarm fluid was the most interesting thing in the entire universe. This was mortifying. “-A good guy who is letting me crash at his place until I find somewhere good enough for my baby girl.”

“Never look a gift horse in the mouth Daniel.”

What does that even-“ He took a moment to calm down. He shouldn’t be shouting at his mom. Even if she seemed to be getting the wrong idea about him and Steve on purpose and if she was being needlessly smug about it too. “How is dad?”

“Changing the subject won’t make this go away. I may be your mother Daniel but don’t mistake me for a fool.”

“I won’t I promise.”

“Enough of that attitude. Just tell me honestly, you do like him don’t you?”

“I don’t know mom, Hawaii is beautiful I guess...If you like that sort of thing.” What had his life become, he was now trying to talk in code to his retiree mother about his secret crush on his male best friend. Danny sighed as she repeated what he said with added sarcasm to who Danny could only presume was either her book club or Danny’s father.

“Message received sixty niner breaker breaker.” It was downright weird to hear her giggling like that at him; Danny’s skin began to prickle. Memories of thanksgiving past surrounded by his sisters and his brother all laughing at little Danny...he really didn’t want to go down that road. “Listen to me, from what Gracie has told me he seems like a sweet boy and he obviously cares about you a lot.”

“I know that mom.”

“So what is stopping you sweet pea?”

“It’s not as easy as all that is it.”

“It can be, if you let it.”

Danny groaned and Steve narrowed his eyes at his, twitching his head and miming to ask what was going on. Danny just shook his head holding up a hand. “Look, can we talk about this some other time?”

“Okay fine. Why not deprive an old woman of her only joy in life.”

“What, your only joy in life is to berate your children?”

“Yes!”

“Very funny mom. Look, I have to go alright?”

“Fine fine, just so you know, this isn’t going away. I know you sweet pea; you never get this het up about someone who isn’t important.”

“Yeah yeah. I will talk to you again. Bye.”

“Goodbye.”

He woke up the next morning in a cold sweat. Faint images of him sat at the table for thanksgiving surrounded by his family asking him over and over again if he loved Steve. Steve was there too, arms crossed face blank and so painfully silent. Danny groaned and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Great, so now Steve was in his subconscious too. He couldn’t get away from the man.

He was waiting for him when the detective got downstairs a coffee was waiting on the unit, bagel next to it. He narrowed his eyes. Steve grinned. Something was up, he had the feeling of being late to the upkeep and when he took a sip of his coffee Steve smile only grew wider. “Okay, go on; tell me what is going on.”

Steves smile dimmed a little and he crossed his arms tilting his head like a confused animal. “Wait, you seriously don’t know?”

“Don’t know _what_ Steven; I thought we agreed no stupid mind games before twelve. Or does that rule not apply because we aren’t partners anymore?”

Steves smiled had disappeared now and Danny glanced up from his coffee and then back down again quickly. Okay, now he felt bad. He was cranky, of course he was, it was early and he had just woken up from a horrible nightmare so obviously he was going to be grumpy. It was the only human thing to do. He looked up again. Right, but he didn’t have to take it out on Steve who was now adopting the patented you-ruined-my-fun-times face. “No, I don’t know. Care to enlighten me?” Okay maybe he still sounded a little grumpy but that couldn’t be helped, it was the natural meter of his voice.

Regardless Steve brightened up a little again. “It’s your first day on the road to being my partner again, not that you aren’t right now.”

 “But-“

Steve just waved his hand. “Technicalities.”

Danny laughed and Steve grinned back at him. Then it hit him, oh yeah being the newbie again. Fantastic. “Right of course. So that is what this little breakfast is about? Don’t you have more important things to be doing? Catching criminals? Swimming a few hundred miles? No?”

Steve just shrugged. “Actually since we don’t have a case at the moment we have a day off today so I thought I’d drop you off on my way downtown.”

“Wait, you’re going to drop me off at HPD like you’re my wife or something?”

Steve flushed and Danny barely managed to choke on his own spit before the SEAL turned away relieving them both of the awkward situation Danny had landed them in. Shit, he did not just refer to Steve as his wife. Dammit.

“Hey it’s fine if you don’t want me to, I just thought you’d want a ride since I was already going that way...”

“No, thanks. I _would_ appreciate a ride.”

The car ride was quiet, Steve bobbed his head to the awful music he had blaring out of the speakers and Danny took the opportunity to steal glances at him through his peripherals. It originally started as a means to work out the damage his little comment had caused but had quickly dissolved into a study of his partners face, focussing mostly on the ridiculously long eyelashes the SEAL possessed.

He had become so focussed it actually took him a second to realise he was blatantly staring and Steve was now staring back, the car parked at the entrance to the HPD. Danny blinked. Steve frowned.

“You okay? This isn’t seriously upsetting you that much?”

“What? No, I just have a headache that’s all.”

“A headache...” Steve’s voice was loaded with disbelief and Danny quickly scrambled for a defence.

“Yeah, you know maybe it’s that awful racket you think is good driving music”

Okay so it wasn’t his best quip but thankfully Steve laughed and leant on the steering wheel cocking his head. “If anything my music is probably soothing you, you would be having a migraine right now if-“

“Yeah yeah.” He waved his hands at Steve smiling too and the SEAL laughed warmly. Danny jumped down out of the car and turned back before he walked away.

Steve hesitated, licking his lips before speaking. “Hey, good luck.”

“Luck? What would I need that for? I’m not actually a newbie you realise that right?”

“I just meant I hope you get on with your partner, you might not get so lucky a second time.”

“HA! I’m still waiting to be lucky the first time around.”

Steve laughed with him and Danny leant on the door, head poking into the car as if he needed to be closer to Steve to display his sincerity better. “Thanks.”

“Well if you don’t like them you could always tell me how horrible they are and how much you wish you had me back at lunch...”

“I look forward to it.” He turned around and all but ran into the building after Steve looked up at his last words and made fierce eye contact with him, his smile slowly fading as the intensity of his gaze increased. He had too much going on to have to deal with his crush right now.

Danny’s skin was still prickling as he approached the reception desk. Just as he opened his mouth to speak a voice boomed behind him, from far across the entrance to HPD. “ **Williams**?”

Danny turned and caught the eye of the man who had spoken. He was very tall (Danny always had the pleasure of stupidly gigantic partners. The short cops curse) with short peppery hair and vibrant blue eyes darkened by the man’s stern glare. He wore the suit of a detective so at least Danny didn’t have to go on patrol or anything and his accent identified him as coming from California so he was at least not from the islands, a haole too. The man must also have been pretty new here since Danny had never met him before. All in all he found no reason not to answer the call and raised a hand slightly jogging towards the detective.

“In here.”

He was led into the bustling pit, the furious sound of keyboards, lowered voices and hushed phone calls brining a surprising hit of nostalgia to the jersey detective. The tall man showed him to the far end of the room and to a desk so neat and ordered it stuck out like a sore thumb in the paper strewn, coffee stained office of the HPD detectives. Sitting neatly stacked was a large pile of files, next to it a small notebook, computer turned on ready for him.

Danny blinked and glanced up at the tall man who turned and crossed his arms, gazing down at the detective with a blank empty expression. “I’m detective Lassiter.  The chief told me you are to be a ride along probie but what he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him-“ He leant forwards a bit leaning over the shorter man his eyes narrowing slightly “-Or you.”

Danny put his hands on his hips and lifted his chin. The guy was obviously trying to intimidate him but growing up in Jersey had taught Danny it was not all about physical height or brawn, the most important thing was presence, attitude, and he had that in bounds.

He gazed back lazily, squaring his shoulders and tilting his head slightly to the side. For the time being Lassiter stepped back. “I need these reports typing up, my notes are there, that is everything you need. You have filled in reports before right?”

He didn’t speak. Okay so this guy obviously already resented Danny for no reason but that was fine, he just had to sit out his probation, he could take it. Lassiter sneered and Danny licked his lips running a hand through his hair as he spoke using the cockiest tone he had perfected. “What are you going to do while I’m acting secretary?”

The taller man blinked in surprise and uncrossed his arms, keeping eye contact for a few seconds before receding. He sniffed and looked past Danny’s head and across the pit. His voice was less demanding now.

“I have some actual police work to do. My number is in the notebook. Never call me.”

Lassiter strode around him as soon as the shorter man nodded, long legs carrying him swiftly from the room, the other detectives eyes following his slim figure and then falling on Danny. The detective simply shook his head a little and threw himself onto the uncomfortable wooden chair, pulling the first file towards himself with a sigh. His phone beeped in his pocket.

‘ **I’ll buy you lunch at Kamekona’s. Lose the tie.’**


	7. Chapter 7

Time slowed each and every time he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check just how long he had been filling in the reports for Lassiter. The quick yank and flip on his wrist became muscle memory and despite the sinking in his chest each time he realised he still had three hours before he could leave for lunch he couldn’t stop the urge to look after every stabbed full stop. After ten or so finished reports he considered heading over to the kitchenette at the side of the bullpen but glancing over he made eye contact with the officers gathered around their drinks and they stared back at him. One of them said something out of the corner of his mouth and they all turned to acknowledge him, laughed, and looked back to Danno like a six headed hydra and it was like his first day in kindergarten all over again. He went back to his reports and by the time he had finished them all he could feel the eyes of the other officers boring through the thin glass and straight into his chest. He didn’t look up. He flipped his phone out one last time and to his surprise it rang.

**Sexy eyes**.

Danno couldn’t stop the smile that spread over his lips if he wanted too. He tried to bite back on it a little when he answered knowing that Steve would be able to hear it in his voice.

“Danno?”

“You miss me that much?”

Steve tutted and Danno got up from his seat turning his back on the bull pen to lean against Lassiter’s desk. He crossed his legs at the ankles and leant his shoulder up against where he held his phone.

“You didn’t text back. I wasn’t sure you were going to meet us.”

He grinned. He really was missing him that much.

“Yeah babe. I’m on my way now.”

Steve murmured something to himself and Danno grabbed his keys from the desk turning to leave. If Lassiter needed him he had his phone number so he didn’t bother leaving a note. HE scooted out of the office door and headed for the front desk.

“Do you want me to pick you up?”

He hadn’t even thought about it. Steve had driven him in that morning. He considered it for a second before shaking his head. That would be way too much right now, imagine if the other cops saw him being ferried around by Steve like that. It was bad enough being the probie without being mothered by his ex-partner.

He winced.

He hated thinking of Steve like that. He wasn’t his ex-partner. He was his … _separated_ partner?

“Danno?”

Steve’s voice was soft and fond and Danno felt his grin brighten by around a thousand watts. “Sorry babe. No I don’t need you to pick me up. I’ll take a cab.” He could sense Steve was about to argue but he didn’t get the chance to stop him in his tracks because his hurried steps were halted abruptly by a wall of bodies. He looked up from the floor his smile dropping instantly as soon as he realised he was being surrounded. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Hey is everything okay?”

Steve’s concern was cut off by Danno hanging up. His fingers gripped tight around the phone for a second before he slid it in his pocket relaxing his shoulders and staring up at the man who had spoken earlier. Six pairs of eyes watched his every move and Danno put his hands on his hips leaning back with a politely blank expression carefully poised on his face.

“If you would excuse me gentlemen, I have some malasadas waiting for me.” The cops moved in a step tighter and Danno made sure not to react.

“Williams isn’t it?”

He didn’t speak he just let his gaze fall on the man speaking. His body and face remained relaxed but his eyes gained intensity and he lifted his chin.

“Why d’you look so familiar hmm….oh I know.”

“Seen me in your dreams maybe?”

He flashed a cocky grin and relished the flare of anger in the cops’ eyes. “Oh that’s it. You’re the cop who’s partner murdered the governor right? That army psycho they have running five-o right?”

“Navy.”

“What?”

“He is a Navy seal idiot.”

Danno tried to relax his balled fists thankful that the cop hadn’t noticed. He tried not to concentrate on the act that Steve would love this. He would love Danno correcting someone about his stupid military position. The cop frowned dumbly and Danno moved to get past him only for more of the goons to block his way.

“You know that is going to catch up with him. You and your psycho boyfriend are not going to get away with this.” The guy was whispering close to his ear and it sent shivers racing down Dannos back as his throat clenched. It took all of his inner strength not to turn around and smack the guy. “And this time, he isn’t getting out of the big house alive.”

He turned sharply on his heel and popped the guy on the chin with a short but powerful punch. He yelped in shock and Danno braced himself for a fight but there was no shouting, no flurry of blows or hail of curses.

Just dead silence.

He looked around at the crowd and followed their gaze to where Lassiter stood with his hands on his hips. His face was completely blank and Danno quickly turned to face him stuffing his hands in his pockets like a admonished schoolboy.

“Detective Williams. My office.”  

Danno started walking immediately. It gave him an out of a fight he really didn’t want to have to continue no matter how prepared he was to. He sat in the chair and waited. Lassiter didn’t seem to be speaking; he was just giving each officer a silent furious glare. They each said a few words before going back to their desks leaving only the man Danno had hit. He started gesturing and pointing angrily at Danno but Lassiter simply listened to what he had to say before shaking his head effectively ending the officer’s complaints. Then his gaze turned on Danno like a laser beam and he didn’t look away as he walked slowly but purposefully towards him. The office felt small and stuffy and he shifted in his seat as his skin prickled under a too-tight shirt. All he could think about was the insinuation that Steve would die in prison, that the other officers wanted that to happen, that they felt Steve deserved that. He felt the anger flare in his stomach again and he clenched his fists under the desk. Lassiter turned as he entered the room and clicked the door shut his shoulders ramrod straight. He sighed and then turned around his eyes lightening blue and full of a raging storm.

“Detective Williams.”

“He deserved it.” He couldn’t help himself. Lassiter rested his fingertips on the desk in front of him and leant forward a little his expression not changing.

“Might I remind you that you are an officer of the law, under probation and a _fucking_ **adult**!” his voice remained calm until the last two words which he spat at Danno with such force and venom that the detective physically jumped back a little. “Your reinstatement rest in _my_ hands and my hands alone and I could decide that perhaps you are more affected by what your ex-partner did than the captain thinks. Maybe you are too much of a fucking _child_ to be of any use to the HPD or even your precious five-o.”

Danno throat closed up and he swallowed hard not caring that Lassiter would see. Lassiter’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t mention it. “You are lucky that Harris out there has been a constant irritation to me since I first set foot on this godforsaken island and that to finally see someone give him a long overdue beat down is  a bright spark in an  otherwise shitty day. “

Lassiter turned sharply and opened his filing cabinet. He ruffled around in there in silence for a few minutes before heaving an enormous pile of paperwork tied together loosely with binders and clips out and dropping it with a bang onto where Dannos hands had been  only second before.

“You are so lucky Detective Williams that I am choosing to ignore your little stunt out there on the condition that you manage to sort this delicious backlog of shit my predecessor left for me out before I finish a little visit I need to make downtown.“

Danno crossed his arms and they shared a calm look before Lassiter rolled his shoulders back and patted his hand on the work. “Just so you are aware Williams. This was your second chance. You don’t get a third.” He tapped the papers one more time and swooped out of the office ignoring Harris as he tried to catch up to him.

Danno sighed and reached for his phone typing out a quick text. **‘Sorry babe. Not going to make it.’** He pulled the first page off of the pile and squinted at the tiny messy handwriting. His phone beeped loudly from the desk and he couldn’t help but look.

**‘Why not? I have a whole bag of malasadas waiting for you’**

**‘I have a pile of paperwork I have to get through or my probie guy wont reinstate me. It’s not a big deal. We can have them tonight.’** He thought about how after he was finished here he could go home, Steve had been going on about some horror movie he had been meaning to watch and the idea of watching a movie on Steve’s couch with malasadas and a cold beer sounded amazing. His stomach squirmed.

**‘I thought you had a viewing tonight?’**

Danno swore under his breath. **‘Oh yeah. After that then’**

**‘What’s your guy’s name?’**

**‘Why?’**

**‘What’s the harm in telling me his name?’**

**‘I cannot believe you just said that. It’s Lassiter. Don’t contact him or go all navy seal on him okay?‘**

**‘I’m not going to’**

Danno shook his head and put the phone down. He ran a hand through his hair unable to stop himself from grinning. All he really wanted was to leave the stupid stuffy office and go to the shack with Steve and the team. His stomach rumbled and he sighed trying to get through the first report without imagining the taste of kemekona’s signature shrimp. He was still squinting at the messy scrawl trying to decipher its meaning when he heard the office door click open and suddenly his senses were assaulted by a sickly sweet scent that could mean only one thing. He blinked up at the doorway and started to laugh. Steve grinned back at him waggling a white paper bag in the air with a shrug.

 “I just wanted to know which office you were in.”


End file.
